A rotary card file customarily comprises a rotatable drum-like card holder provided on its periphery with two circumferentially extending webs with enlarged beads at their peripheries. The cards are provided at their inner edges with notches or slots which fit the webs of the card holder so as to retain the cards removably and hingedly on the card holder. Means is provided for manually rotating the card holder so as to make different cards available to the user and for retaining the card holder in the position to which it has been rotated.